Sexton to miss Scotland clash

The British

& Irish Lions

Tour to New Zealand 2017

Sexton to miss Scotland clash

Jonathan Sexton will miss Ireland's clash with Scotland on February 24 after being ruled out of action for at least a fortnight.

The favourite for the Lions' fly-half jersey suffered a hamstring injury just half an hour into the 12-6 defeat to England on Sunday.

Sexton was unable to carry on in Dublin as Ireland saw their hopes of a second Grand Slam in five seasons slip by just seven days after a superb win in Wales.

The 27-year-old will have a scan to assess the full extent of the damage but Ireland coach Declan Kidney is hopeful that his star playmaker hasn't played his last Test of the tournament.

"He'll get a scan but he looks to have given his hamstring a bit of a tear," said Kidney.

"There will be a couple of weeks in that. How much? I think it would be wrong of me to try and second-guess. We'll know more on Monday or the next day."

With the tournament taking a break this weekend and then again after Round 3, Sexton is only expected to miss the one international match and should be back in action for the home tie with France on March 9.

He will almost certainly be replaced in the Ireland lineup against the Scots by veteran Lions tourist Ronan O'Gara, the man who took over at the Aviva against the English.